Is there Fake News in the Media Covering Casino and Poker Cheating?

Source of Card-Marking Materials???

I never considered this...until I heard this: "German Police Arrest Woman on Suspicion of Marking Cards used in Casino Table Games with radioactive iodine."

According to various online news accounts, a 41-year-old woman, who--oddly--was not identified, Berlin police raided a restaurant after pieces of radioactive playing cards were found at a waste treatment plant and traced back to the restaurant. At the restaurant, thirteen playing cards with traces of radioactive iodine-125, which is a nuclide found in certain medicines. Shortly afterward, a night club, karaoke bar, an apartment and some office spaces were searched by the same police department.

It is not clear if any of these places, including the restaurant, was home to some sort of illicit poker game or casino.

According to the reports, the woman had a partner who had a radioactive detection device that would enable him or her to identify the cards that had the iodine on them. No German casinos were named in this report, so it is possible that this radioactive card-marking scam took place or was taking place in some kind of private, non-state-sanctioned game.

The police also noted that there was no health risk to anyone coming into contact with the radioactive cards as the dose was small and had all but disappeared when the cards were found.

The woman faces from one to five years in prison.

My take: Is this real? Or is this some kind of fake news? Well, I really don't know. Maybe we will learn later that it was all part of some kind of terrorism plot--that would be really scary!!

Russian Backgammon Cheat Busted in Las Vegas for Dice-Sliding at Craps

Sliding Dice

Well, this should not be surprising as backgammon and craps have one very important thing in common: that of course being the usage of dice. But what is surprising as hell, at least to me, is that dice-sliding actually works.

It is so damn easy to stop!

But 44-year-old Badri Tsertsvadze, who hails from the republic of Georgia, has managed to get away with dice-sliding for quite a long time in the world's casinos including Las Vegas. He was, however, busted this month for the same at the Flamingo casino on the Vegas strip.

He was charged with 18 counts of cheating at gambling (I imagine each count is for a dice-slide) and booked into jail with a $90,000 bail, which is certainly high for a casino-cheating  crime.

Tsertsvadze obviously has loads of international gambling-cheat experience. Back in 2008 he was arrested for using loaded dice in a Normandy, France backgammon tournament. He is also suspected of doing the same in two other European backgammon tournaments he won.

I don't have any info on how much Tsertsvadze dice-slid the Flamingo for but I imagine it is a significant amount given the high bail.

Back in September of this year, two Bulgarians were arrested after allegedly dice-sliding their way to more than a million dollars on a Caribbean cruise ship. There have also been major dice-sliding casino-cheating incidents in Louisiana and other US casinos.

It just amazes me that this scam repeatedly works when it is so damn easy to stop!